America’s Freight Railroads Are Investing in Safety

The freight rail industry is fully committed to safety, and shares a belief that one accident is too many. To that end, America’s freight railroads have infused the network with $575 billion in private infrastructure and equipment spending over the last three decades, including $500 million in 2013 alone to maintain rail bridges.

Coupled with these record safety-enhancing investments, railroads have done top-to-bottom reviews of their operations and have voluntarily taken steps to further improve the safety of moving crude oil by rail. This includes lower speeds, the use of track-side safety technology and increased inspections.

Railroads have also stepped up outreach and training for first responders in the communities through which they move crude oil. The benefits are borne out in fact: The last several years have been the safest in railroad history. America does need final regulations on new tank-car standards and other aspects of moving flammable liquids like crude oil by rail. Railroads have long advocated for tougher federal rules on tank cars, and believe that every tank car moving crude oil today should be upgraded or built to a higher standard.

EDWARD R. HAMBERGER

President and Chief Executive

Association of American Railroads

Washington

To the Editor:

The Railway Supply Institute Committee on Tank Cars, whose members build and own the majority of tank cars in the United States, agrees that new regulations are needed in the United States and Canada and that the rules should address tank-car standards.

We delivered a detailed plan to the United States and Canadian governments to achieve this result. It not only recommends tougher tank-car standards, but also urges the Transportation Department and Transport Canada to focus on derailment prevention and the proper packaging of materials being shipped.

We will be able to reduce the number and severity of these accidents only by taking a comprehensive approach to the movement of flammable liquids by rail, and that is where the focus should lie.